March 5, 2002
Honiara, Solomon Islands
Honiara again. Reality bites. Our director asked Andy if we would stay on here after Christmas, and take on the deputy director job again. I cried when he told me. Andy says we don’t have to do it; we just need to think about it.
We were planning to go to Papua New Guinea, where there’s a big missionary center, so the kids could go to a real school while Andy finishes the last bits of the New Testament before we publish it. Home schooling for me is a daily reminder of my incompetence—and I’ve had nine years of that; I’ve been counting on getting the kids into a real school after Christmas.
But Andy likes the deputy job; and he could probably get all the translation work finished by mid-year if we stayed here in the Solomons.
I think we will stay.
I can’t stop crying.
March 10
Tawatana, Makira Province, Solomon Islands
We saw the most amazing things from the ship this time. First, we sailed through a school of thousands of pink jellyfish, ranging in color from pale rose to wild fuchsia. Some were the size of a fist, others like turkey platters. They all squeezed shut and burst open again, and their tentacles hung like curtains from an orange circle on their undersides. The captain of the ship said that a deep-sea current comes up at that particular spot and the jellyfish ride to the surface with the current. We must have sailed through the jellyfish for ten minutes.
Then the sun went down behind the boat and the whole sky and sea became one pure sheet of orange. Just as the sun went down, a light rain began to fall and in front of the ship was a huge rainbow. We sailed right toward the center of the rainbow.
What is 31 Days of 2002? Read about it here.